I nod, letting the silence speak for itself.
“Are you saying that you and Travis have become intimate again?”
“Yes,” I whisper. “But I broke it off when my ex threatened me. Someone caught Travis giving me a kiss while we were ice-skating with my daughter and posted the picture online. Elijah saw it and demanded that I keep Travis away from Lucy because of the rape accusation. He threatened to take her away from me, so I did what I had to do, except Travis got arrested and came over to my house drunk. He and Elijah exchanged words, and now I’m here.”
Irvin leans back in his chair and lets out a sigh. He picks up the summons and reads through it before setting it back down.
“Are you going to lose your job if this gets out?”
“Yeah, I will. Jeffrey isn’t keen on keeping reps around who break his policy.”
“And you know Travis is planning to leave Boston?”
“Yes.” My voice breaks.
“You’re in quite the pickle,” he says. The baseball pun isn’t lost on me.
“That’s not all.” I take a deep breath and exhale slowly. “The witness that is reluctant to come forward for Travis—that’s me. I went into the bar that night because my ex had sent me a letter asking about my daughter. I hadn’t heard from him since I was pregnant, and out of the blue, I receive a letter from him, asking to see her. I was scared, and when I walked in, Travis was there. He followed me out after some time, and we talked briefly before the woman came out. Travis and I got into a cab together. She yelled that he would pay for this. Before the car pulled away, I got out. I watched Travis leave by himself, and I saw the woman get in her car and leave.
“I was also in the restaurant when Travis ran into her. He wasn’t gone for five minutes when he rushed back and told me we had to leave. My daughter was with us as well, and I know Travis would never do anything to put her in harm’s way.” I wipe away the tears that have fallen and keep my eyes focused on Irvin’s desk.
“You’re fucking kidding me, right?”
I shake my head.
“For weeks, you’ve watched him suffer when all you had to do was tell the truth.”
“And go to jail?” I ask, making eye contact. “You think I want to go to jail because I had a weakened moment and went into a bar? Do you think I should be behind bars when a man who fucks half the damn city got accused of rape, which shockingly hasn’t happened before now?”
“That’s unfair.” I hear Travis’s voice behind me, and when I turn, his face is like stone. His eyes are narrowed to slits and glaring at me. I should tell him I’m sorry, but I’m not. It’s the truth. His actions have snowballed, creating a disaster all around him.
I fiddle with my bag as Travis moves into the room. He stands off to the side instea
d of sitting next to me. I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to sit by me either.
“This is unexpected,” Irvin says, and I don’t know if he’s talking about my revelations or the fact that Travis is here.
“I came here to ask you to help Saylor with her custody issue.”
“Seems to be a popular subject today.” Irvin laughs at his own joke, which I don’t find funny.
“Can I speak with Saylor alone for a minute?” Travis asks. Irvin huffs as he stands but doesn’t say anything as he leaves his office, shutting the door behind him.
“I have a proposition for you, Saylor, that I think we’ll both find beneficial. You can take the offer or leave it, but either way, I will be moving forward with having you subpoenaed to testify about the night in question. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to clear me, but it should be enough to cast doubt on the case against me.”
Travis sits in the chair next to me and angles mine so that I’m facing him. “I need you to look at me when I say this.”
I do as he says, getting lost in his gaze. The hard expression he wore after hearing my harsh words is gone and replaced by the kind man who brought joy to Lucy’s and my life for a few weeks. In front of me is Travis Kidd, a man who wants to be loved, and not the cocky baseball player that fans have turned on.
“I’m going to pay for Irvin to fight your ex in court, and I don’t care what you have to say about it. The thing is, I love Lucy.” We both laugh. What he doesn’t know is that growing up, I used to watch the show with my dad, and it was my way of paying homage to him when she was born. “Anyway, I do. She owns my heart, but so does her mother. These past few days I’ve been lost without you both in my life, and the thought of leaving you behind in Boston is killing me. So I propose that we get married.”
My mouth drops open, but he shakes his head, letting me know he’s not done. “First off, once Jeffrey finds out about everything, he’s going to fire you. Marrying me will give you access to my bank account until you find another job. Two, you can come clean about the night in question, clearing my name. Three, once again, Irvin will be there to help with any legalities that come up from you being in the bar. He’ll be at your full disposal, which brings me to four. Lucy loves me, and she can tell the judge that. You know she wants us to be together, and you know she’ll choose me over that man who claims to be her father. Will it be an uphill battle? Yep, it will be, but I’m willing to climb the mountain to keep her where she belongs, and that’s with you…with us.”
I replay each point over and over in my head and still come back to the missing fifth one. “I’d want more. And I don’t think you can give that to me.”
“Like what?” he asks, pulling my hands into his. I willingly let him hold them, because being held by him is worth the heartache I’ll suffer later.
“I want a marriage, Travis. I want a husband who loves and cherishes me. I don’t want to wonder where my husband is at night, or if I’m going to find some strange woman roaming around the house with barely any clothes on. I don’t want to find random hotel receipts or underwear in your pants pockets when I go to wash your clothes.”